Zombies In Riverdale!
by rinithereject
Summary: Our story follows our most loved characters, each on their own internal journey but together on an epic adventure as they try to figure out what caused the zombie infestation in Riverdale, while trying to stay alive. Filled with action, romance, twists and a strange mystery, this story is one you wouldn't want to miss.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

(Archie Andrews)

Archie was in the bathroom when it happened. He was washing his hands when he heard the familiar crackle over the intercom followed by Principal Weatherbee's voice, asking all the students to report to the gym.

Archie furrowed his eye brows and slung his bag further up his shoulder before stepping into the hallway. It was extremely crowded, every student looking as confused as Archie felt. It wasn't usual for them to be called for a school-wide assembly during class hours.

The human torrent of students slowly moved into the gym and Archie immediately noticed Betty and Veronica standing near the back of the room. They waved at him as he made his way over to them.

"Do you guys know what's going on?" Archie asked, leaning against the wall.

"No, but something's definitely wrong." Betty said. "My mom just sent me this." She held her phone out and Archie leaned over to read the text.

 _Stay where you are. I'm coming to get you._

Archie frowned. "What do you think is going on?" He asked.

"I don't know. Maybe it's some political thing." Veronica said. "My mom sent me this." She mimicked Betty's actions from before, holding her phone out.

 _Ronnie, please be careful. I'm trying to get to your school but they're everywhere. Please hang on, Mija, I'll be there as soon as I can._

Archie inhaled sharply. "Woah."

Veronica slipped the phone back into her pocket, biting her lip. It was obvious she was internally freaking out. Betty slipped an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay, Ronnie. It's probably nothing." Betty reassured her. "Don't worry."

Veronica nodded shakily in response.

Archie pulled his own phone out and his heart began to pound when he saw that he had five missed calls and two texts from his dad. He swallowed the lump in his throat before opening them.

 _Archie, I don't think I'm gonna make it, son._

 _I love you. Be safe._

"Guys, look." He showedthem the messages and the expression on their faces reflected his worry. Betty took a deep breath. "Okay, I know it looks like something is really wrong but we just need to remain calm, okay?" She tried for a smile but it was clear she was scared too.

Archie looked around at everyone in the gym. They all wore the same expressions, mirroring what Archie was feeling.

 _Worry._

 _Concern._

 _Confusion._

 _Fear._

Kevin ran up to them a while later, a frenzied look on his face. "Guys, something happened!"

But before he could elaborate, there was a massive screech of the microphone and Weatherbee's voice boomed out. "Okay, now, settle down, kids. Settle down. I know you're all curious but chattering about it isn't going to help."

Jughead walked over to where the rest of them stood, just as a hush fell over the room.

Principal Weatherbee cleared his throat before he spoke. "Okay, so, some of you probably got some texts or calls from your parents. I know you're all confused or scared but there's no need to be. You're safe in here."

"Excuse me, Principal Weatherbee." The lilting voice of Cheryl Blossom interrupted him. "Are you trying to tell us it's not safe out there?"

"I—that isn't what I was going to say—" Principal Weatherbee looked flustered, which wasn't something that happened often.

"Well, it doesn't matter what you were going to say!" It was Kevin who interrupted him this time. "It isn't safe out there!"

"Kev, what are you talking about?" Archie asked him as everyone turned to stare.

"My dad told me what's going on outside." Kevin said, walking over to take the mic out of Weatherbee's hands as everyone watched with wide eyes.

"There was an incident at the Riverdale Central Hospital." Kevin began. "They don't know exactly what happened there yet—but that's where it began."

Archie was surprised that Weatherbee hadn't yanked the mic out of Kevin's hands and told him to shut up yet. In fact, he seemed just as intrigued as the rest of them.

 _He doesn't know the whole story either_ , Archie thought and the realization made him uncomfortable. _If the person in charge doesn't know what was going on, how exactly is it safe in here?_

"There's something happening around town." Kevin was now reading off of his phone. "The police got reports of aggressive and violent attacks occurring at and around the hospital late last night—around 3 am—and the officers that went to check it out didn't come back. When I—uh, my dad—and a couple of other officers went to check it out this morning, they found something that could only be described as gory. There were barely any people at the hospital. The only things left were…" Kevin's voice wavered. "Blood and corpses."

There were more than a few gasps at that, including Archie's.

 _Blood and corpses? What is this, a horror movie?_

"And then they came. A group of eight, four patients, two doctors and two policemen. The ones that went to investigate last night. There was something not quite right about them. It's hard to describe. They were, in short, zombies." As soon as Kevin uttered those words, there was a shout of laughter.

"C'mon, man! Stop messing with us!" Some kid yelled but his joking tone seemed to be covering a layer of fear.

"I'm not _messing_ with you." Kevin snapped and held up his phone. "That's what my dad told me."

"And what? Your dad just had the time to fire out a huge, extremely detailed text when he was running from _zombies_?" A girl yelled. There were murmurs of agreement in the crowd.

"Look, I'm just telling you what I know, okay? And the reason my dad texted me everything is because…" Kevin paused, swallowed. "He got bit. And we've all seen enough zombie movies to know what comes next."

The silence filled the room again as Kevin shut his eyes and turned his head down. Archie could see his shoulder shaking, his hand tightening around his phone. After a few moments, Kevin seemed to compose himself. When he looked up again, Archie saw an intensity in his eyes he'd never seen before.

"I don't know what happened to my dad. But I do know that he thought he was going to die. And he told me what was going on to help me survive whatever the hell is going on. So, that's what I'm going to do. There's not much else we can do." He said.

"Kevin…" Jughead started. "If there were only eight people in the hospital, does that mean…?"

Kevin gave a grim nod. "They're outside."


	2. Chapter 2

Veronica didn't know what she expected. Maybe screaming? Fighting? Crying? But none of those happened. There was only silence. Silence so deafening she wanted to curl up into a ball.

"W-What do we do?" Her voice wobbled. It didn't tend to happen very often.

"I don't know." Kevin shook his head. "There's probably someone coming to get us. We should just stay in here and—"

" _Probably?_ " Cheryl sounded incredulous. "Didn't your dad alert someone?"

"I don't know!" Kevin repeated, frustrated. He was about to continue when Principal Weatherbee stepped up to take the mic back. Kevin dramatically rolled his eyes before making his way back to his small group. Betty pulled him into a hug immediately while Jughead awkwardly patted his shoulder.

"We're going to lock all doors and windows and barricade them. If you haven't noticed yet, your phones probably don't have network." Weatherbee stated.

Veronica pulled her phone out and checked. Sure enough, she did not have a single bar. She bit down on her lip, feeling the worry gnawing at her stomach.

"We don't have any means to communicate with anyone outside. And we can't go outside. We don't know if it's safe." Weatherbee said. Veronica couldn't help rolling her eyes. _What was the point of repeating information all of them already knew?_

"You're allowed to go anywhere inside the school building and if you see an unlocked door or window, please shut it." Weatherbee continued.

"Wait, so, that's your plan?" Jughead called out.

"Yes." Weatherbee responded. He sighed, as if wondering why he had accepted this shit job of being a high school principal.

"You just want us to sit in here, waiting for help that may or may not arrive?" Veronica asked.

"Yes."

"That's completely stupid." She said.

Weatherbee raised his eyebrows. "And what would you suggest we do, ?"

Veronica cleared her throat. "I say we get out of here."

"Ronnie, you know it isn't safe out there right now." Archie said quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't mean 'get out of school', Archie." Veronica sighed. "I mean we should get out of Riverdale."

"And how do you think you're gonna do that?" Weatherbee said.

"Well, there are plenty of cars to get us all out." Betty pointed out.

"It isn't safe out there!" Weatherbee yelled, finally losing his cool. "You're all just kids studying at my school so you will listen to what I say! You're going to stay right here until help arrives and that's the end of it! I don't care what you want, alright? Now go make yourselves useful!"

Veronica blinked. There was a moment of stunned silence before the students began to quietly shuffle out of the room.

"That was intense." Archie mumbled as he followed Jughead out. Veronica nodded in agreement. They wandered around the school for a while, not entirely sure what they were supposed to do. Archie kept poking his head into classrooms but didn't tell the others what—or more probably, who—he was looking for. Eventually, they came back to the gym, which was now empty.

Well, almost empty.

Cheryl, Josie and Reggie were busy clearing the tables stacked at the back door when Jughead, Archie, Betty, Veronica and Kevin stepped in.

"What are you guys doing?" Archie asked, scowling.

Cheryl surreptitiously stepped in front of the door. "Nothing."

"Really?" Jughead raised his eyebrows at her. "Because it looks like you're opening the door."

"I have to." Cheryl sighed. "JJ is out there."

"What?" Betty exclaimed. "Doesn't he know what's going on?"

"I don't know. I can't talk to him, obviously." She lifted her shoulders. "He didn't come to school today. He's out with Polly."

Veronica turned to look at Betty, who looked as if she was going to throw up. She felt her own stomach flip.

" _He's out with Polly?!"_ Betty shrieked.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. "That _is_ what I just said, isn't it?"

"Oh my god." Betty covered her face, breathing heavily.

"Betty, hey, hey." Veronica pulled her into her arms, running her hands over her back in an attempt to calm her down. "It's okay, we'll figure something out, Bets."

Betty held on to her tightly, her breaths coming out in short, uneven puffs.

"Betty, you can't have a meltdown now, alright?" Veronica tried her best to make her voice soothing. "Deep breaths, come on. Deep breaths."

Betty slowly calmed down, her breaths getting more even. Veronica gently pulled away from her, searching her face to make sure she was okay. Betty nodded, as if sensing her thoughts. Veronica gave her a reassuring smile in response.

"Thank god that gag-fest is over. Now, how about you get out of here?" Reggie said, rolling her eyes.

"No way." Betty shook her head, stepping forward. "I'm coming with you."

"No." Josie said firmly.

"You don't get to decide that." Betty snapped at her. "My sister is out there so I'm going."

Josie opened her mouth to retort but Cheryl held up her hand to silence her.

"Of course you can come, Betty." She smiled. "But if you slow us down, we _will_ ditch you."

"I won't." Betty said.

"Well, I'll go with you too." Veronica said.

"Uh, why?" Reggie asked, frowning at her.

"Because my mom's out there too." She explained. "And also because Betty."

Betty smirked at her and Veronica winked back.

"Wait…um, Josie, have you seen Valerie?" Archie asked. "I can't find her anywhere."

Josie pursed her lips. "No."

"Wait, you mean she isn't in school?" Archie looked panicked. "Where is she, then?"

"I don't know!" Josie sighed. "The girls and I had a fight. I haven't spoken to any of them for a while."

"Oh, god." Archie mumbled, running a hand through his hair.

"Archie, it's okay." Veronica tried to sound reassuring. "Maybe she's still inside the school?"

"She isn't." He mumbled. "I was looking for her all morning."

"Shit." Veronica whispered.

"Okay, so, I'm coming too." Archie said.

"Oh, for fucks sake." Reggie looked frustrated. "Why don't we just take the whole school then?"

"Shut up, Reggie." Veronica glared at him. "Why are you going anyway?"

"Because I don't want to be in here." He said. "I agree with what you said before. We can't just sit around here doing nothing."

"And what do you think you can do about it, O Great Reggie?" Jughead rolled his eyes at him.

"I don't know, Donnie Darko, but I sure as hell am _not_ staying here." Reggie snarled back.

"Okay, okay, guys, can we just calm down for a second?" Betty intervened, holding her hands up.

"She's right. We can't keep fighting each other." Veronica said.

"So, it's settled then. All of us are going?" Cheryl raised her eyebrows.

" _No_." Kevin, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, spoke up. "I'm not going."

"Kev, don't you want to know exactly what happened?" Veronica asked, knitting her eyebrows together.

"I do." He responded calmly. "But what you guys are doing is fucking stupid."

"Kevin?" Betty looked concerned. Veronica was too. Kevin was acting very….un-Kevin.

"Did you not listen to _anything_ I said before?" Kevin demanded, his voice harsh. "If you go out there, you will die or you will become a…a _zombie_.!And it's more likely than not that all those people out there are dead too."

"Kevin, you don't mean that." Archie tried to reason with him, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Kevin shrugged him off and pushed his way out of the group.

"You can do whatever the fuck you want." Kevin snarled at all of them. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

And with that, he turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing in the empty hallway. Betty began to follow him but Veronica pulled her back, grabbing her hand.

"Betty, don't. He's angry and he's hurt. His dad _died_." Veronica said quietly. "He just needs some time, okay?"

Betty pursed her lips, staring at Kevin's retreating figure. She shook her head, as if clearing her thoughts. "You're right." She said, turning back to Veronica.

"Now that all that unnecessary drama is over, can we go?" Cheryl asked, jerking her thumb at the door. The others simply nodded in response.

"Good." Cheryl said and opened the door, leading them to the adventure of their lives.


	3. Chapter 3

In all the years that she'd lived in Riverdale, Betty had never seen the town like this. It had always looked the same, with its picture perfect streets and houses and shops. The town with pep, indeed.

Betty looked around, feeling bile rise up in her throat at the site. The walls splattered with blood, the ripped clothes lying around, the _corpse_.

"Oh my god." Reggie whispered. He looked as if he was going to faint.

"Let's just keep moving." Veronica muttered in a hushed whisper. The others began to follow her, moving in a tight-knit group. Betty wondered how out of place they must look in the situation, in their bright, clean clothes.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Archie asked, as they began to walk along one of the main roads.

"I didn't think that far ahead." Cheryl responded, keeping her voice low. Betty was about to ask her _what the actual fuck she was thinking_ when Cheryl stopped abruptly, making Josie run into her.

"Girl, why couldn't you—" Josie began but Cheryl shushed her, waving her hand frantically.

"Do you hear that?" She asked, her eyes wide.

"What are you talking about?" Betty asked, frowning.

"Shhh!" Cheryl hissed. "Listen!"

And so they did. For a moment, Betty was absolutely sure that Cheryl had finally lost it. But then she heard it too. The low, faint groaning and what sounded like something heavy being dragged around, the volume increasing slowly by the second.

"What is that?!" Veronica whisper-yelled.

"Maybe it's someone who needs help?" Josie suggested.

"Or maybe it's a fucking zombie that's going to eat our brains." Reggie said.

"Shh, shut up!" Archie said. "Let's just go look."

"Archie, are you crazy?" Veronica shrieked. "We can't go there! They might actually be zombies!"

"Or it could be Valerie! Or Polly or Jason or our parents!" Archie argued.

"We don't even have anything to defend ourselves with!" Reggie joined in.

"Okay, you guys stay here, then." Archie grumbled. "I'll go."

"I'll go with you." Cheryl said quickly. Archie nodded at her, straightening up.

"Me too." Betty said. She didn't particularly want to go. But if it was Polly…

"You are all crazy." Reggie rolled his eyes. Betty shrugged at him, before turning to Archie and Cheryl.

"Just me and the gingers, I guess." Betty smiled, shrugging. Both of them rolled their eyes in unison.

"Let's just keep quiet and move slowly." Cheryl said, walking towards the source of the noise, which increased with each step. Betty and Archie followed, trying to keep their footsteps soft.

"What if they are actually zombies, though?" Archie asked.

"Well, then we don't move slowly." Cheryl rolled her eyes again.

"Noted." Archie mumbled.

"Hey, look!" Betty whispered, before running over to pick up a pocket knife dropped next to a dumpster.

"Yes!" Archie gushed, reaching to take it out of her hands.

"Woah, back off!" Betty said, holding the small knife close to her chest. "Finders keep."

"Seriously?" Archie gave her an incredulous look. Betty simply shrugged in response. He groaned before leaning over the dumpster.

"What are you doing?" Cheryl wrinkled her nose.

"Say we do run into zombies." Archie said, rooting through the piles of garbage. "We would need some sort of weap—Aha!" He stood back up, revealing a cracked mirror. He hurled it at the group, making Cheryl shriek a little as it broke into pieces. He reached into the dumpster again, grabbing an old, dirty shirt. Betty watched as he ripped it into two, his muscles flexing. He reached down to grab two of the bigger shards of glass, wrapping them in the cloth. He stood back up, handing one to Cheryl.

"Make-shift knife." He grinned. "Use it well."

"Smart." Cheryl said, tying the cloth around the shard carefully. "Let's go."

But, as it turned out, they didn't have to go. While they were busy with their 'weapons', they hadn't noticed that the sound was much closer. So close, in fact, that as soon as they turned a corner, they were face-to-face with a man they knew all too well: Principal Weatherbee.


	4. Chapter 4

"What the actual fuck?" Cheryl was the first to speak, as she stared at Principal Weatherbee in disbelief. Betty felt the same way. What the hell was Weatherbee doing out here? Especially after he yelled at them to stay inside? Was this even Weatherbee? Did he have an identical twin she didn't know about?

"Language, ." Weatherbee said, his voice strained. His hand clutched his shoulder, blood staining his shirt. Betty had a vague idea of what might have happened to his shoulder.

"Okay, now is really not the time for you to say that." Betty said.

"Principal Weatherbee, what are you doing out here?" Archie demanded.

"I think the better question is, what are the three of you doing here?" He asked.

"Tough luck, Principal Weatherbee. You don't get to ask the questions here." Cheryl snapped.

Weatherbee looked at each of them and when his eyes locked into Betty's, she felt a chill run down her spine. Weatherbee's usual cold brown eyes were tinged red and she could sense a sort of anger in them. Or was it hunger?

"Fine." He said, sighing. "I got out of the school to try and escape."

"Escape?" Betty repeated.

"Zombie apocalypses aren't controlled. It's likely someone inside the school is affected too. So…I ran." He said.

"Someone inside the school is affected?!" Archie exclaimed.

"I said it's likely, not that I was sure." Weatherbee responded. "I wanted to give myself my best chance. I mean, it's only a matter of time before a bunch of kids break out. And when they do…it's gonna attract all those zombies and I won't make it. I needed to escape."

"So you left all those kids in there?" Betty said in disbelief.

"Well, yes. I had to watch out for myself first." Weatherbee said.

"You. Disgust. Me." Cheryl spat. "You were supposed to keep us safe. You were supposed to be in charge. What was that point of the speech, then? Pretending like you actually cared about us? You don't give a damn about anyone but yourself. You're nothing but a selfish coward."

"Tell me something I don't know, Miss. Blossom." Weatherbee gave them a cruel smile. "Now how about you go your way and I go mine?"

"Well, we can't really let you do that now, can we?" Betty looked pointedly at his shoulder. "You've been bit."

"So? What does it matter to you?" Weatherbee avoided her eyes.

"Well, for one, you could go crazy and come after us." Betty said.

"Well, what should we do?" Archie asked. "I mean…we can't kill him."

"No, we can't." Said Cheryl. "But we can lock him up."

"Excuse me?" Principal Weatherbee took a step back, as if he was legitimately scared of three skinny teenagers.

"You know, that isn't a bad idea." Betty said, playing along and titling her head. "But where would we put him?"

"We could throw him in the dustbin." Archie suggested, trying to hide his grin. "I mean, he does belong there."

"You will do no such thing!" Weatherbee shouted.

"Calm your tits, Principal Weatherbee." Cheryl rolled her eyes. "That was a joke."

"Oh."

"Just don't run into us again." Betty said. She turned to her friends. "Let's head back."

They nodded in response and the three of them began to make their way back.

"Wait, you're just leaving me here?!" Weatherbee yelled after them.

"Yup!" Cheryl responded, sticking her middle finger out at him and smiling.

When they got back to where they'd left Veronica, Reggie and Josie, they realized things weren't the same as they had been when they left. For one, Reggie had a bloody wooden plank in his hand and Veronica had heels in her hand as well, blood visibly dripping from the pointy ends and Josie had what appeared to be a can of pepper spray in their hand. Their clothes were splattered with blood, and oh, there were two dead bodies lying near them.

"Oh my god!" Betty exclaimed, running over to Veronica. "What happened?"

"Zombies." Veronica said.

"And you…killed them?" Cheryl seemed genuinely impressed, which wasn't an easy task to accomplish.

"Yeah." Reggie shrugged.

"With…heels, pepper spray and a wooden plank?" Archie looked at them in surprise.

"Yeah." Josie said. "We just used our brains, I guess."

"Woah." Archie mumbled. "I mean, woah, that's insane! And also sort of extremely amazing."

"Duh." Veronica flipped her hair. "And you thought you were the badasses for investigating."

"What did you guys find, anyway?" Reggie asked.

"Just Principal Weatherbee." Archie said.

"What?" Josie's mouth dropped open. "He left?"

"Yeah." Archie rolled his eyes. "He's a fucking asshole."

"So where should we go now?" Betty asked, looking around at them.

"Thornhill." Cheryl said. "That's definitely the place Jason would go to be safe. Polly will most probably be with him."

"Yeah, I agree." Betty said, nodding her head.

"Okay, but we probably need a weapon that isn't just…what we have now." Veronica said, digging around in her bag. Betty didn't even realize she had it. Her own bag was probably lying around somewhere back at the school.

"You're right." Reggie said, nodding. "We were able to kill two zombies but I don't think we'd be able to handle, say, a dozen."

"Well, what should we do?" Archie asked.

"We have guns at Thornhill." Cheryl said, making everyone whip their heads toward her.

"Look, this is great for our situation but…why do you have guns at your house?" Josie asked.

"It's for situations like this. Emergencies." Cheryl explained. "I mean, when you're the richest family in Riverdale, you're going to make some enemies. And you need to learn how to defend yourself against them."

"That makes sense, I guess." Archie mumbled.

"So how many guns do you have?" Veronica asked, wiping the blood off her heels with a tissue. She looked so badass doing it.

"Four, I think." Cheryl said. "Mom and Dad had one each and Nana Rose had one. I think we might have an extra."

"Okay, I can shoot and since Cheryl's family owns guns, I'm assuming she can too. Who else can shoot a gun?" Veronica asked, looking at the rest of them.

"Wait, you can shoot a gun? Why?" Archie asked, staring at Veronica with wide eyes.

"My mom taught me." Veronica shrugged. "So, anyone?"

"I think I can?" Betty said, making Veronica's eyes dart to her. She blushed at the impressed look on the raven haired girl's face. "I mean, I took archery lessons for a while. And I've always been pretty good at those shooting games. So…yeah, that's better than nothing I guess."

"It is." Veronica grinned at her.

"Alright then." Cheryl said. "To Thornhill."

"Wait, are we walking all the way?" Archie asked. "Because there are a lot of abandoned cars lying around."

"What if the sound attracts the zombies though?" Betty asked.

"We'll just run them over." Reggie rolled his eyes.

"Sounds like a plan." Josie said, snorting.

"Okay so, do we just like get in a car and go?" Veronica looked questioningly at Archie.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Archie walked over to a minivan left with most of the doors open. He poked his head in and turned back to the group. "They keys are still in. Let's go."

"I'll drive." Cheryl said, going over to the driver's seat. Josie sat next to her and Archie and Reggie sat in the middle.

Veronica climbed into the backseat and Betty quickly followed.

"Oh, wait, Cheryl." Veronica leaned forward toward Cheryl. "Could you stop by a store? I could use some shoes."

Betty looked down at Veronica's feet and realized they were bare. Veronica caught Betty staring and grinned. "Got a foot fetish, Betty?"

"Yes." Betty responded, rolling her eyes. "Your feet are magnificent, Ronnie."

"I knew it!" Veronica giggled and nudged her.

"Shut up." Betty mumbled, smiling.


End file.
